THOUGHT (aka Centric's Blog)

"You talk about social media, you yak about ‘new marketing ecologies,’ and I still don’t get it," a lot of our clients say. "Why can’t I just keep doing the usual, buying media, placing ads, doing some research now and then?"

And that’s a completely fair question. There’s so much change going on around us that it’s hard to keep up with it all. People forget that, only 10 years ago, they didn’t really have to worry about email, web marketing, online advertising, keywords, or online video–let alone social media and virtual worlds. They might not have even had a website yet.

So how do you describe this new environment that brands are working in?

Simple. It’s a bar.

But wait. Before we get to that, let’s go back to school. Literally. Because that’s what the old marketing environment looked like. Literally.

Yes, I’m serious. Consider this:

Past Marketing: You’re in School

You stand in front of a roomful of people. You tell them what you want to tell them, using visual aids when you need to. Sometimes the people in the room talk to each other. Sometimes they don’t pay attentionMost of the time you aren’t really thrilled with that. Over the course of a day, the people in the room see many other people standing in front of them, telling them how it is. But, again, there’s not a lot of talking. Not a lot of discussion.

• Your brand is the teacher, standing in front of the room
• The students in the room are your audience
• You have a significant share of voice
• You have a good deal of their attention
• They have to sit in front of you for a reasonable amount of time, even if they don’t really want to

In this scenario, if you present your ideas well and you’re easy to get along with, you’re going to be well-liked, and people are going to remember you at the end of the day.

Today’s Marketing: You’re in a Bar

Now, you’re still standing in front of a roomful of people. But the rules have changed. You’re standing behind the bar, and people are crowding around. The people aren’t there because they have to be; they’re there because you’re delivering something they like. Or they may not like what you’re serving, but their friends are there. Or they just happened to be in the neighborhood. Some of them are nice, some of them aren’t so nice. And they can talk to each other.

Seeing how this is different? Consider this metaphor:

• Your company is the bartender, standing in front of a crowded bar
• The people in the room may or may not be your audience
• You have almost no share of voice
• You probably don’t have their attention, beyond how you are immediately serving them
• Nobody has to hang out with you

In fact:

• They can talk right back to you
• If they don’t like what you’re serving, they can go somewhere else
• They can talk to each other, and decide what they think about you
• If they decide you’re a loser, you’re a loser
• Some of them will be jerks, period
• And it all happens in real time, immediately

Social media means that every communication is a conversation, that it happens immediately, and that there are real penalties if you ignore it. It also means your share of voice is, effectively, gone. With over 50% of all online content generated by your customers, you can’t out-shout the crowd. And, even then, nobody likes a bully.

So yes, you could continue your broadcast advertising plan, put off deploying social media on your site, and hide  behind yearly research–but every moment you run your bar like a school increases the chance your patrons will find another, more friendly, abode.

This is an introduction and a few announcements. I’ve been lurking here without posting for quite a while. My name is Ken Brady. As the Director of International Strategies for Centric, it’s about time I introduced myself and what I’m doing here.

Centric is commited to our international clients, and we’re working to make our company much more relevant on the world stage. Our new office in Tokyo is one step, our forthcoming office in Shanghai is another, and our international prospects in Second Life is yet another. My focus on developing international business is also part of that commitment, and there will be many more announcements in the near future. We now have clients in Japan and China, and have been speaking to potential clients in Taiwan, Thailand, Germany, Switzerland, Isreal, France, Brazil, Singapore, the U.K. and Australia.

I’m very excited about the possibilities, and welcome the challenge and unique opportunities that come from doing international business. These are exciting times!

PORTLAND

Jason and I are speaking at a Portland Advertising Federation event in Portland, Oregon. The seminar is called SecondLife: Web 2.0 Branding - Boldly Going Where Million$ are Right Now. Sounds like something we can handle, right? If you’re in the Portland area, we’d love to see you there.

SINGAPORE

Yuki and I will be in Singapore for a series of meetings May 3-8. Hit us up if you’re in Singapore!

CHINA

Yuki and I wil be in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong May 10-24. We’re checking out possible office locations and meeting with a variety of potential partners and clients. Again, let us know if you’re in China during those two weeks!

JAPAN

Yuki and I will be here May 8-10 and again May 24-30. We’ll be arranging our new office, talking to a number of prospective clients, and visiting current clients and friends. Again, if you’re in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto or Kobe, email and let us know.

Okay, we’ve now spent some time in the Centric region, we’ve talked a little more with Stratton Briggs, and we have some more info for everyone.

First, the singing mats are damn creepy.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. As we mentioned earlier, our region in Second Life has seemingly been taken over by a future corporation that was developing an alien world. Yeah, we know. Strange things happen in SL, but this one is particularly bizarre. And the story gets even stranger. Apparently this alien planet’s development was shut down due to “cost overruns.” And Winfinity is offering a L$100,000 award for the “best independent data” regarding the reasons.

Second, Stratton Briggs doesn’t believe for a moment that we’re actually from the 21st century, or that this is anything more than a management test. But he did seem honestly interested in determining what happened on Manoa.

Third, I don’t think that the future will spawn companies like Winfinity, which seems to be quite oppressive. Transparency and openness seem to be the hallmark of companies who want to succeed in the future. Which brings up an interesting question: is Winfinity from an alternate timeline where things went differently? Are we changing our world, right now, to an extent that they might never exist? And is that why there’s been this intersection between future and past?

Because one thing’s clear: Manoa is not a portal to another dimension. It abides by standard Second Life rules. As far as we can tell, anyway.

Fourth, Stratton Briggs seems to think there isn’t one right answer to what happened. "This is not a game," he said. "It is a presentation. You stand in front of the board, you do the tricks and show the best light, and in the end, they pick which is most convincing." He reiterated: "Tell a story. Words, Images, Video, Sound, all media is equal.

So? We’ll play along. We’ll even host DiscoverManoa.com on this timeline. So come in, take a look around, and let us know what YOU think happened on Manoa. The highest-rated answer on DiscoverManoa.com, as rated by visitors from June 1 to June 30, wins the L$100,000. Which isn’t bad for what might be a few lines of copy.

What’s happened to our Second Life island? I was looking forward to opening the standard metaverse developer island, with an office and conference center and sleek mid-century modern furniture, but our region seems to have been taken over by a future corporation bent on developing an alien world.

Well, or at least they were bent on developing it. Prominent signs indicate that the Manoa Project has been closed due to cost overruns. The developer, Winfinity, is offering L$100,000 for "the best independent data explaining what happened here."

Strange. But we’ve successfully contacted Stratton Briggs, Winfinity’s Manager of the Manoa Forensic Investigation, and agreed to help them on this timeline.

More news as it develops.